The "Army-Navy Screen Magazine" was a biweekly news, information, and entertainment short subject designed for servicemen and screened before feature films in all military motion picture theaters. Each 20 min episode was divided into four or five segments featuring stories about the home front, news about major events of the war, an animated cartoon, and a variety show with entertainers like Bob Hope, Judy Garland, and Lena Horne.

This segment from Army-Navy Screen Magazine #20 shows parts of episode #92 (November 13, 1943) of the star-studded Armed Forces Radio Service program "Command Performance". It stars Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, Judy Garland, and Lana Turner and was filmed at Camp Roberts, California, USA.

Full description of Army-Navy Screen Magazine #20 from National Archives:

Reel 1, Part 1 - U.S. troops land unopposed on Kiska. Shows a destroyed Japanese hangar and submarine base and abandoned supplies. Heavy construction equipment is landed; Gen. Dewitt inspects the island.

Reel 1, Part 2 - Bob Hope and Betty Hutton entertain on a weekly radio program.

Reel 2 - Betty Hutton and Judy Garland sing and Bob Hope and Lana Turner joke.


This movie is part of the collection: Short Format Films

Director: Frank Capra
Production Company: United States Army Signal Corps’ Army Pictorial Service
Audio/Visual: sound, b&w
Language: English
Keywords: Army-Navy Screen Magazine; Army-Navy Screenmagazine; Command Performance; Bob Hope; Betty Hutton; Judy Garland; Lana Turner

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Iowatvman - - December 20, 2009
Subject: Outstanding!
This is a great piece of World War II-era entertainment history. It should be pointed out, however, that the broadcast (and therefore, this film) appears to have been recorded at CBS' Columbia Square radio studios in Hollywood, not at Camp Roberts as stated in the description. It is known that many episodes in this series were recorded at Columbia Square. Also note the microphone with the "CBS" nameplate.